ET sent me a fragrance sample ages ago. Thank you, my dear, even if it's late.
I have taken out the sample time and again, and each time I was unsure how I feel about the scent and, above all, how to describe it.
The Quelques Fleurs Original is a very balanced classic, almost old-fashioned, but a clear, floral, noble thing.
This Royale counterpart confuses me. It is well made, no question, but somehow it annoys me a little. It all seems too deliberately modern.
You can pretty much forget about the grouping of the notes. My first impression each time was "musk-sweet." Here I agree with ET, it reminds me of a sweet drink, somehow familiar. I find it hard, as with the original, to explicitly identify individual fragrance notes. The flowers complement each other nicely, although the tuberose is a bit temperamental and keeps trying to take the lead; I can't identify the rose either. Grapefruit may be responsible for the slight bitterness, while the pleasant freshness of bergamot does not come through on my skin.
And beneath it all, this (which I do not particularly appreciate) white musk note swirls around. In the end, amber really doesn't have a chance to join in. The tuberose allies itself with the white musk stuff. The two have found each other and now annoy together in the drydown, making you glad when they finally disappear on the horizon. It is quite clear that there is an attempt to appear modern, to capture the spirit of the times, to partake in the trend of orientals. This succeeds, but narrowly skirting the edge of the ordinary.
Don't get me wrong, the quality is definitely noticeable, which is why I give it 70%. But my nose simply doesn't like musk in this concentration, and certainly not in combination with tuberose.
Hyazinthe 10 years ago